Kanto - Celadon City

Ash, "Charmeleon, flame thrower!"

Erika, "Dodge it, rain dance!"

Ash, "Counter with sunny day!"

Bulbasaur perked up at the mention of the last two moves and watched the two battling Pokemon intently. Ivysaur used rain dance that caused it to rain while Charmeleon used Sunny day that made the arena shiny bright and warm. Misty grumbled at his side about humidity, sweat and how she needs a shower after this because of the sweat. Ritchie just laughed and said that's what happens when two powerful moves collide and Bulbasaur understood what Ash was planning a little.

Erika, "Now leaf storm!"

Ash, "Agility and dragon rage!"

Ivysaur launched a powerful leafstorm making Bulbasaur's eyes widen at the force of it, it was majestic to look at. Lucario pat his head saying he'll be able to do the same thing with patience and training, it's just a matter of time. Charmeleon was using agility to dodge the many leaves and vines coming towards him before he jumped and shot dragon rage at Ivysaur from an opening above forcing the grass type to stop attacking and move. The fire lizard did not stop however and attacked the Ivysaur with swift and the bud Pokemon retaliated with magical leaf.

Horace, "Wait they didn't call out those attacks, did they?"

Brock, "Sometimes if a Pokemon will see an opening they will go for an independent attack on their own."

Gou looked at Brock, "It happened yesterday too."

Ritchie, "I trained or rather one of the best way to train Pokemon is to help them observe the situation and to decide wheter to attack or not."

Misty nodded, "It helps if someone tries to steal your Pokemon, they can come up with a plan to escape and avoid being recaptured till help arrives. Although it can take longer."

Gou scowled, "Those thieves are nothing but lazy idiots. I don't know why they can't raise a Pokemon themselves. Instead they steal from others."

They turned back to the battle where Ivysaur was expertly dodging Charmeleon's sword dance. The grass type definitely was stronger than it looked and the battle continued as Ivysaur retaliated using vine whip which Charmeleon burned with flame thrower. To say the grass type was pissed was an understatement and roared angrily charging towards the fire type.

Ash, "Dodge iron tail."

Erika, "Ivysaur calm down, use tackle!"

Charmeleon readied his iron tail as he waited for his opponent to attack. The moment the grass type tried to tackle him he moved out of the way bringing the iron tail hard and fast on Ivysaur's right side. Despite the large size the plant Pokemon still flew a few feet away before landing on the battlefield dazed and confused by the attack.

Ash, "Now flame thrower!"

Erika, "Ivysaur! Energy ball quick."

Ivysaur started to form an energy ball although being dazed made it slightly difficult to create one. Charmeleon however didn't wait for his opponent to have a chance to attack and used his strongest fire attack on the grass type. He had to finish the battle quickly, he was starting to feel exhausted and the strain was starting to set in.

Ash, "Follow up dragon tail!"

Erika, "Ivysaur launch the energy ball now! You can do it!"

Ash had to give his respects to Erika as a trainer, despite being hurt the Ivysaur was still standing and attacking. However he and Charmeleon were also training hard and would not loose this battle.

Ash, "Keep going... Now dodge under and dragon tail!"

Charmeleon slipped under the energy ball that sailed higher than normal, the aim was off courtesy of not being able to focus because of the pain. Charmeleon brought his tail up and hit Ivysaur hard making her fly backward and land in a dead faint. Ash winced seeing the bulb above Ivysaur getting crushed, on seeing that Charmeleon rushed forward and turned Ivysaur around. Despite feeling exhausted, he was able to turn his grass counterpart from his back to the front only for everyone to notice the grass type was out cold.

Referee, "Ivysaur is unable to battle Charmeleon wins the match. Please choose your final Pokemon."

Erika, "Return Ivysaur. Rest my girl, you did well."

Ash, "Charmeleon, do you want to return to your pokeball? Or join the others?"

Charmeleon pointed at Lucario, "Meleon!"

Ash, "You want to watch? Sure bud, go join them."

Ash watched as Charmeleon walked to the audience area and sat down exhausted beside Bulbasaur who inquired if he was alright. Charmeleon simply nodded as Lucario walked to the battle taking his place and getting ready for battle. Ash nodded and got ready for the last match, just like previous matches he had requested to battle one of Erika's strongest Pokemon.

Erika, "Let's go Vileplume!"

Ash observed the Vileplume infront of him, unlike the one that Ritchie faced this one was larger and his colours darker. He had many scars across his body, a testament to all the battles he had fought to win the war against the organization that terrorized Kanto. He was no doubt a warrior through and through and Lucario looked forward to battling him and got ready to fight.

Referee, "Begin!"

Ash, "Sword dance!"

Erika, "Petal blizzard!"

Vileplume used petal blizzard to attack Lucario and Lucario weaved and waved through the multi colored petal blizzard and attacked Vileplume. Ash could respect the power of the Vileplume infront of him, the different coloured petals showed how strong the Pokemon was. Petal type moves usually were single coloured for the starter Pokemon and the colours increased the stronger the Pokemon got.

Erika, "Grassy terrain."

Ash, "Power up punch, calm mind and fire punch."

Lucario moved fast and hit Vileplume who grunted but the flower Pokemon did not budge and Lucario hit him with the fire type move getting a wince.

Erika, "Leech seed followed by toxic!"

Ash, "Bone rush, prepare the pulse!"

Vileplume shot a leech seed and it erupted into multiple vines more than what was considered normal. Misty gaped as she watched the powerful move slowly cover Lucario but Lucario used bone rush as a knife and cut through the vines. Vileplume shot toxic and Lucario used his speed to dodge the attack before retaliating with dragon pulse that canceled toxic out.

Misty, "That leech seed, damn so powerful, if Lucario had been caught by it."

Brock, "It would be game over."

Ritchie, "I didn't realize Vileplume's leech seed could be so powerful."

Gou (≧∇≦), "It's amazing, that's for sure."

Horace, "I can't wait for my Oddish to evolve."

Ash, "Force palm! Metal claw! Agility!"

Erika, "Dodge bullet seed!"

Lucario used agility to dodge the seeds and attacked the grass type Pokemon who dodged the attacks. Lucario grunted as he backed away from Vileplume who shot stun spore as him in retaliation. Lucario used aura to enhance his fire punch to burn away the spores before he got a hit at Vileplume who grunted at the impact. Lucario winced a bit, he had been affected by the stun spore just like Vileplume was affected by the fire punch.

Erika, "Vileplume use hyperbeam!"

Ash, "Retaliate with aura sphere followed by meteor mash."

Lucario attacked using aura pulse in answer to the hyperbeam as he prepared the meteor mash. Once the hyperbeam and aura sphere moves ended Lucario Atta with meteor mash that hit Vileplume head on.

Erika, "Use synthesis!"

Ash, "Don't let up Lucario, attack with another aura sphere followed by sword dance!"

Lucario rushed ahead and before Vileplume could successfully use synthesis, he was hit with an aura sphere. Lucario then attacked him with a very powerful sword dance however Vileplume fought back as he got some of his strength back.

Erika, "Solar beam!"

Ash, "Dragon pulse!"

The two attacks hit causing the battlefield to be covered in dust and when the dust cleared, both Pokemon were still standing. Lucario fell to his knee panting hard but Vileplume fell to the ground completely exhausted from all the powerful attacks he had to use.

Referee, "Vileplume is unable to battle, Ash is the winner of the match."

Ash rushed to Lucario's side, "We won Luc, we won."

Lucario grinned, -We did it Meema.-

Charmeleon, Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Phantump all gathered around the two of them cheering for the win. Erika got Vileplume up who grunted as he shook his head and smiled at the gym leader signaling he was alright. Erika smiled at her strongest Pokemon and got up and approached Ash.

Erika, "That was a fun battle Ash, Vileplume and I had a lot of fun battling like that again, after such a long time. As proof of your victory I present to you your Rainbow badge also your money has been sent to your account."

Ash grinned taking the badge, "Thank you Gym Leader Erika, look guys we got a Rainbow badge."

Pikachu, "Pi pikachu!"

Charmeleon, "Chaaaar!"

Bulbasaur, "Bul bulbasaur."

Lucario, -We won!-

Phantump, "Phaaaaaa!"

Erika, "Oh my! That is one very healthy Phantump. Is he yours?"

Ash, "He is our baby yes, thank you. I have been taking good care of him after what happened to him."

Erika's eyes softened, "Ah! Agatha gave us a warning."

Misty, "Does every gym leader know?"

Erika nodded, "Don't worry about it it's just our responsibility as gym leaders to watch out for the trainers well being both mental and physical."

Phantump, "Phaaa!"

Erika looked the little ghost type over, "He'll be ready to shed his leaves in two months."

Ritchie looked at her curiously, "How can you tell?"

Erika, "Let's walk and talk!", then she pointed at the small buds next to the leaves on Phantump's head, "See these here? It means new leaves are going to sprout soon and Phantumps don't have more than six leaves on their horns on both sides."

Ash, "Ah! That's pretty cool."

Erika, "Did you know you can use those leaves to make medicine?"

Ash, "I knew that fact though I'm not sure how it is made."

Erika nodded, "In two months time, I would advise you to go to a pharmacy and show them your Phantump, they'll take care of it for you while at the same time you'll earn a good sum of money."

Misty, "Seriously? That's pretty cool."

Brock, "Totally, some breeders even use the leaves to make their own medicine, although I have not learnt how to yet."

Erika looked at Brock, "So you finally decided to follow your dream after all. I was wondering what you were doing with these trainers."

Brock laughed sheepishly, "Yeah! Dad finally came home and apologized for his mistakes. It's not exactly perfect but yeah."

Erika smiled, "Well I'm happy to see you are finally following your dreams. I hope you will take part in the breeder's competition here."

Brock, "Thank you so much Erika. Your sweet words touch my heart and make me ver...eecrk."

Zubat, "Zu zu zu.:

Misty pat Zubat, "Good job Zubat!"

Erika and the group laughed as they headed towards the Pokemon centre to get their Pokemon healed. On the way they met up with Jessilina and Jameson again who looked at the group and asked Ash to meet them after he had finished taking care of his Pokemon. Misty wanted to say something but decided it would be better if Ash talked to them first and didn't say anything. Ash simply agreed and left with the duo once his Pokemon were healed.

Erika, "You know those two right?"

Ritchie, "We are traveling together yes."

Erika, "Her Seviper is strong, he single handedly trashed my Pokemon."

Gou, "What?"

Erika, "I didn't use my strongest Pokemon of course but still."

Horace, "We missed it? No way! When did they battle?"

Ash meanwhile was observing the two, "So? Where are we going?"

Jessilina, "Your brother wants to talk to you first."

Ash was surprised, he had almost forgotten Red wanted to talk to him, "Wait you have been in contact with my brother?"

Jameson, "He is one of our business partners, you could say. Being a Champion, a lot of people wanting to do business with you is actually normal."

Ash frowned, "I'm not angry if that's what you are thinking just confused. He could have simply called me, I could have gone to meet him."

Jessilina sighed relieved, "That's a relief and yes he could have called you if his pokenav wasn't broken from battling the goons who were trying to recapture Moltress."

Ash grew alarmed, "Is Red okay?"

Meowth, "R'lax kit, he's alive, n through dis door."

Ash, "That does not answer if he's okay."

Ash opened the door and saw Red sitting at one of the tables talking to someone on the laptop with his arm on a sling. Hold on! Back up! Red's arm was in a sling, so many questions went through Ash's head. When Red saw Ash he curtly said goodbye before getting up to hug Ash as a greeting. Ash hugged him back careful of his arm in a sling, he had many questions about what happened but decided to get the two of them comfortable first before asking his questions. Red overall seemed fine aside from the left arm which was in a sling and Charizard hovering over him. Ash smiled at the large female before calling Charmeleon out who's eyes widened and promptly went in for a snuggle with his mother. Red smiled at the happy reunion before turning towards Ash who he knew had many questions for him.

[A. N.: Well the gym battles seem to get longer and longer the more I write them.

I hope you all enjoyed the story.]